Oct 30: Shocking images of a number of female students forced into a booze-fuelled initiation ceremony dressed as babies at Oxford University have appeared on Facebook.
Pictures from the Babies and Teenage Mums event showed first year lacrosse team members being made to suck on dummies and neck alcohol from baby bottles during the degrading proceedings.
Older students, who played the role of ‘chav’ mums, wore tracksuits and gold jewellery while smoking and shouting abuse at their “babies” at the ceremony, which has been branded “extremely tasteless” by fellow students.
The freshers were also made to sit on the older girls’ laps and be fed baby bottles full of booze, and they were also forced to lick baby food off paper plates as part of the ritual.
Around 60 senior and new members of the team attended the event, which started in a student house before moving to several pubs and clubs in Oxford.
At one point each fresher was forced to lie on the filthy ground wearing just T-shirts and nappies, which were strapped to their bodies with parcel tape.
The younger girls were then lined up against a wall while an older team member stood over them wagging her finger as if she was reprimanding them.
The lacrosse team captain, Jane Dougherty, was even seen shoving a plate into the face of one student.
“''The whole event got a bit out of hand and Jane and the other senior members of the team were almost competing with each other to see who could be most cruel to the babies,” the Sun quoted a student as saying.
President of the Oxford University Sports Federation, Enni-Kukka Tuomala, said that club initiations are not condoned, and that all sports clubs know their responsibilities and university regulations that are included in every club’s constitution and code of conduct.